This book presents a sometimes harrowing account of one girl’s experience of growing up in Britain and Canada with an unstable mother and a series of abusive “dads”.   This is not just a tale of violence however, but of episodes of family joy and love, which goes some way towards explaining why seemingly impossible families stay together.   Amid the chaos, Ashworth describes vividly the development of her passion for learning and her determination to transcend the difficulties posed by her family background.